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All Stars 2026 Round 2/3 Final Knockout: Update

I'm creating this thread for anyone to update their progress and maybe reveal any strategies that might help get through this round.

The one overwhelming task for anyone who seriously wants to stand a chance to win All Stars must be this:

Salvage as many multiplier tokens past this round as you can

My advice to anyone with serious ambitions to get to London must be:

Do NOT play a multiplier token early in the round.

Good luck!

To join the Conversation:

Comments

Ah, that would explain it!

I joined 2 1/2 hours ago, and am playing very slowly through the new levels. I just finished my second episode race. 🤣

The board is still nowhere near full - only 29 people total. I was the third one in when I joined. One player in the 16000s, 2 players in the 15000s, most others less than level 10000. So I'm the only end-of-mapper so far on my board.

The two current leaders both used a token and have 20000 and 12000, so they aren't a threat. I think the third and fourth place players both got there with no tokens; they have 11500 and 8500. So they might be a challenge if they later use tokens. But they have stopped playing for now.

I'm still back in sixth with 4000; I guess I should start speeding up a bit.

Could you update us on your group's progress? How are we doing now? Are we in first place yet?

This is because the game on iOS 12 no longer receives updates. It shows them on the last level known to the app.

I think you might have to calculate in one or two tokens as well @Jejsta123 . In the previous round players did play a token near the end if we had not got a big enough lead.

I don't want to say out loud, sorry. If you don't notice it then that's fine.

Nicely done @sweetcandyline You are right: My leaderboard is also very slow to fill. This might be because we are playing slowly maybe. It seems a bit odd.

I joined my leaderboard at around 15:30, 1.5 hours after it was available and has taken another 2hrs and 15 mins for it to be fully populated with 50 players, with one player also showing as joined 34 mins ago when I first joined the leaderboard, so it took nearly 3 hours for the leaderboard to fill up. I'm assuming you joined with one of your accounts during this timeframe Christine, but I don't recognise any of the players names you put screenshots of so don't think you are on my leaderboard.

This suggests that it's not automatically the first 50 people who are part of the round that join and there must be an algorithm somewhere making decisions on where to place players.

I was completing levels slowly and waiting for lives to restore but will go unlimited lives now that my leaderboard is full.
Players levels range from 640-16810 with another 5 players plus me to make 6 who were at 21845 and assume will get back to star tournament levels. Do different devices/operating systems/countries update levels at the same time or is it earlier/later for certain things, or the cards may take some time to update for the last 60 levels. I imagine a number of the lower level players are people who have set up new accounts for the tournament and wanted to start at lower levels.

A few players have been playing consistently and scoring reasonably, but I would still expect to overtake them once I hit my stride and get back to the Star Tournament.

It's gonna be a long day.

whats is wrong?

Okay, here comes another very disturbing observation. These are two player cards I have found in Cornflower's leaderboard just now:

I cannot comment of these, except that the device is running on iOS 12, so strictly speaking maybe I shouldn't be part of the tournament using it. But I cannot help wonder if my initial theory wasn't after all the correct one.

I'm not even sure I want to play this tournament now. Anyhow, I shall leave it there and have a go.

The slower the better by the looks of it.

This is the leaderboard after two hours:

Screenshot 2026-04-01 at 16.15.29.png

The nameless player (from Taiwan, so their name must be symbols the app can't compute) played two episodes and then stopped. All the others seem to have played one episode per half hour, quite steadily.

I'm sorry guys, this is all I will say here. Draw your own conclusions. I think I can beat this task, so I will join the round with my main game soon, and I will start playing exactly how I started the account above. My friends will hopefully understand the methods I have employed to try get easy opponents: Think about this. I took notes of all my opponents' player cards after the first and after the second level I played. That is how I know how many levels they have each played.

By the way I broke the app twice by flicking through the end of level animations too quickly, just be warned. The screen froze and I had to reload in the midst of a speed crush. I think I clicked on the screen before Yeti jumped up and down. This one is new device and up-to-date iOS as well. Luckily the level had registered as passed.

I was right as well about having to play two levels before the other players load: I put down my second account after just one level and 25 players joined on the leaderboard, no more.

I'm not so sure about any of this. I do now, after two hours, worry that I am seeing a bespoke leaderboard. And that I'm seeing a VCR effect as well. It may be deliberate the app has put 5 end of map players on my board. I'm going to check the other account and let you know if that is seeing a similar mix.

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3508640#Comment_3508640

Crazy - 10%! I do suspect that Star Tournament players have had a big advantage in the first 4 stages, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. It is so easy to just crush like crazy in the Star Tournament at a slightly reduced pace, which makes the first 4 stages easy to win. Probably ALL of those players still have all 6 of their tokens.

The big question I have is how it will be for stages 5 and 6. 5 may be more of a challenge, and 6 could be really tough, depending on what scoring is really possible once big boosters are added to the equation (I have experimented slightly, but not enough to know how big of a scoring speed boost it will add).

Thanks so much for the early updates!!

Okay, so this may be a coincidence, but right now after one and a half hours, the leaders are playing at a nice slow pace of one episode per half hour.

Screenshot 2026-04-01 at 15.31.24.png

I have started with my second account and wish to see what I get there.

__MULLIGANACEOUS__

I will be joining late, preferably at Good Friday 00:00 zulu time.

I'm not sure if this is representative, but so far nobody has played more than two episodes nor played a token. I wonder if this is real. I mean, you know me: I pass three levels and then take notes of all the other players. It does seem odd that everyone is biding their time.

I have a whopping 5 end of map players on my leaderboard, that's 10 %!

Hello, Christine.

Thank you for the update, always helpful.

50 people per table was what I expected, but there's always the possibility of 100.

I'm working and can only join later. I take this opportunity to wish everyone good luck, especially you, Christine.

Hmmm, so approximately 10 episodes per day? Sounds like a lot but if they crush at 4 episodes per hour that is 2.5 hours per day, @2 per hour that's 5 hours. Guess that sounds doable. I haven't joined yet, I have only 1 account so I need to be really strategic about it.

The round has started.

First impressions: Early starters are serious crushers. While the leaderboard is still filling up: five players crushed over 1110 levels/7 days. Two players playing at Star Tournament. And that's with just 24 players so far on the leaderboard.

Filling up rapidly of course as you would expect.

Up to 50 players on the leaderboard after 25 minutes. I'll let you know if it increases any more more.

-l

What do you mean by getting a token? What token is that?

I have the same question. I'm worried that if I wait, the event will disappear from my account. The terms don't mention anything about a deadline for joining the round, do they?

I'm hoping to be able to shed some light on this later. I am as undecided as you are at this time.

Looks right to me Christine. The big problem for me is when to join and I still haven't decided. In previous rounds I waited almost 24 hours but I'm not sure that is a good strategy this time since it's only a 3 day round. If I wait and get on a board that's hours in to crushing I may be forced to use a token or two which I don't want to do. I've never made it to the final elimination and honestly am not sure I can do a 24 hour sprint so maybe this round will be a good time to test some longer sessions to see how it goes.

In any case, I wish you lots of luck and thank you for your efforts to help us all with your remarkable research.

To make up one token we have to crush ten episodes normally. That is how powerful those tokens are.

The final round that takes place next week April 7th will be fought out only between those players who have managed to save the most of their tokens.

We do not know at this point whether any of us can pass today's round with all six tokens, but once this round is completed only those players with the most tokens will be competing for the top prize.

I cannot see how any player can make up ten or even twenty episodes of Candy Crush in Round 3/3 when the top players will be crushing at a rate of four episodes per hour.

But I believe in round 2/3 we can, if we play the round wisely and crush our hearts out: Those playing tokens will not likely be crushing at a speed of more than one episode per half hour, so we probably have to make up ten episodes per token. This is manageable for the best players but needs some serious crushing time. Do your maths and stay cool.

Good luck!

(I hope I got the maths right this time. Please correct me if I'm wrong again!)

Comments

Ah, that would explain it!

I joined 2 1/2 hours ago, and am playing very slowly through the new levels. I just finished my second episode race. 🤣

The board is still nowhere near full - only 29 people total. I was the third one in when I joined. One player in the 16000s, 2 players in the 15000s, most others less than level 10000. So I'm the only end-of-mapper so far on my board.

The two current leaders both used a token and have 20000 and 12000, so they aren't a threat. I think the third and fourth place players both got there with no tokens; they have 11500 and 8500. So they might be a challenge if they later use tokens. But they have stopped playing for now.

I'm still back in sixth with 4000; I guess I should start speeding up a bit.

Could you update us on your group's progress? How are we doing now? Are we in first place yet?

This is because the game on iOS 12 no longer receives updates. It shows them on the last level known to the app.

I think you might have to calculate in one or two tokens as well @Jejsta123 . In the previous round players did play a token near the end if we had not got a big enough lead.

I don't want to say out loud, sorry. If you don't notice it then that's fine.

Nicely done @sweetcandyline You are right: My leaderboard is also very slow to fill. This might be because we are playing slowly maybe. It seems a bit odd.

I joined my leaderboard at around 15:30, 1.5 hours after it was available and has taken another 2hrs and 15 mins for it to be fully populated with 50 players, with one player also showing as joined 34 mins ago when I first joined the leaderboard, so it took nearly 3 hours for the leaderboard to fill up. I'm assuming you joined with one of your accounts during this timeframe Christine, but I don't recognise any of the players names you put screenshots of so don't think you are on my leaderboard.

This suggests that it's not automatically the first 50 people who are part of the round that join and there must be an algorithm somewhere making decisions on where to place players.

I was completing levels slowly and waiting for lives to restore but will go unlimited lives now that my leaderboard is full.
Players levels range from 640-16810 with another 5 players plus me to make 6 who were at 21845 and assume will get back to star tournament levels. Do different devices/operating systems/countries update levels at the same time or is it earlier/later for certain things, or the cards may take some time to update for the last 60 levels. I imagine a number of the lower level players are people who have set up new accounts for the tournament and wanted to start at lower levels.

A few players have been playing consistently and scoring reasonably, but I would still expect to overtake them once I hit my stride and get back to the Star Tournament.

It's gonna be a long day.

whats is wrong?

Okay, here comes another very disturbing observation. These are two player cards I have found in Cornflower's leaderboard just now:

I cannot comment of these, except that the device is running on iOS 12, so strictly speaking maybe I shouldn't be part of the tournament using it. But I cannot help wonder if my initial theory wasn't after all the correct one.

I'm not even sure I want to play this tournament now. Anyhow, I shall leave it there and have a go.

The slower the better by the looks of it.

This is the leaderboard after two hours:

Screenshot 2026-04-01 at 16.15.29.png

The nameless player (from Taiwan, so their name must be symbols the app can't compute) played two episodes and then stopped. All the others seem to have played one episode per half hour, quite steadily.

I'm sorry guys, this is all I will say here. Draw your own conclusions. I think I can beat this task, so I will join the round with my main game soon, and I will start playing exactly how I started the account above. My friends will hopefully understand the methods I have employed to try get easy opponents: Think about this. I took notes of all my opponents' player cards after the first and after the second level I played. That is how I know how many levels they have each played.

By the way I broke the app twice by flicking through the end of level animations too quickly, just be warned. The screen froze and I had to reload in the midst of a speed crush. I think I clicked on the screen before Yeti jumped up and down. This one is new device and up-to-date iOS as well. Luckily the level had registered as passed.

I was right as well about having to play two levels before the other players load: I put down my second account after just one level and 25 players joined on the leaderboard, no more.

I'm not so sure about any of this. I do now, after two hours, worry that I am seeing a bespoke leaderboard. And that I'm seeing a VCR effect as well. It may be deliberate the app has put 5 end of map players on my board. I'm going to check the other account and let you know if that is seeing a similar mix.

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3508640#Comment_3508640

Crazy - 10%! I do suspect that Star Tournament players have had a big advantage in the first 4 stages, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. It is so easy to just crush like crazy in the Star Tournament at a slightly reduced pace, which makes the first 4 stages easy to win. Probably ALL of those players still have all 6 of their tokens.

The big question I have is how it will be for stages 5 and 6. 5 may be more of a challenge, and 6 could be really tough, depending on what scoring is really possible once big boosters are added to the equation (I have experimented slightly, but not enough to know how big of a scoring speed boost it will add).

Thanks so much for the early updates!!

Okay, so this may be a coincidence, but right now after one and a half hours, the leaders are playing at a nice slow pace of one episode per half hour.

Screenshot 2026-04-01 at 15.31.24.png

I have started with my second account and wish to see what I get there.

__MULLIGANACEOUS__

I will be joining late, preferably at Good Friday 00:00 zulu time.

I'm not sure if this is representative, but so far nobody has played more than two episodes nor played a token. I wonder if this is real. I mean, you know me: I pass three levels and then take notes of all the other players. It does seem odd that everyone is biding their time.

I have a whopping 5 end of map players on my leaderboard, that's 10 %!

Hello, Christine.

Thank you for the update, always helpful.

50 people per table was what I expected, but there's always the possibility of 100.

I'm working and can only join later. I take this opportunity to wish everyone good luck, especially you, Christine.

Hmmm, so approximately 10 episodes per day? Sounds like a lot but if they crush at 4 episodes per hour that is 2.5 hours per day, @2 per hour that's 5 hours. Guess that sounds doable. I haven't joined yet, I have only 1 account so I need to be really strategic about it.

The round has started.

First impressions: Early starters are serious crushers. While the leaderboard is still filling up: five players crushed over 1110 levels/7 days. Two players playing at Star Tournament. And that's with just 24 players so far on the leaderboard.

Filling up rapidly of course as you would expect.

Up to 50 players on the leaderboard after 25 minutes. I'll let you know if it increases any more more.

-l

What do you mean by getting a token? What token is that?

I have the same question. I'm worried that if I wait, the event will disappear from my account. The terms don't mention anything about a deadline for joining the round, do they?

I'm hoping to be able to shed some light on this later. I am as undecided as you are at this time.

Looks right to me Christine. The big problem for me is when to join and I still haven't decided. In previous rounds I waited almost 24 hours but I'm not sure that is a good strategy this time since it's only a 3 day round. If I wait and get on a board that's hours in to crushing I may be forced to use a token or two which I don't want to do. I've never made it to the final elimination and honestly am not sure I can do a 24 hour sprint so maybe this round will be a good time to test some longer sessions to see how it goes.

In any case, I wish you lots of luck and thank you for your efforts to help us all with your remarkable research.

To make up one token we have to crush ten episodes normally. That is how powerful those tokens are.

The final round that takes place next week April 7th will be fought out only between those players who have managed to save the most of their tokens.

We do not know at this point whether any of us can pass today's round with all six tokens, but once this round is completed only those players with the most tokens will be competing for the top prize.

I cannot see how any player can make up ten or even twenty episodes of Candy Crush in Round 3/3 when the top players will be crushing at a rate of four episodes per hour.

But I believe in round 2/3 we can, if we play the round wisely and crush our hearts out: Those playing tokens will not likely be crushing at a speed of more than one episode per half hour, so we probably have to make up ten episodes per token. This is manageable for the best players but needs some serious crushing time. Do your maths and stay cool.

Good luck!

(I hope I got the maths right this time. Please correct me if I'm wrong again!)

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